* By Werter Padilha
According to a report by the data analysis consultancy GlobalData, the Internet of Things (IoT) market is expected to generate over US $ 30 billion in Latin America by 2023, with Brazil being the main market in the region. This consultancy points out that the Brazilian IoT segment has grown at an annual rate of 20% and this double-digit advance is expected to continue for years to come.
According to another survey, this time Logicalis' IoT Snapshot, 35% of companies in Brazil already have some use of technology and the Brazilian market accounts for 19% of all Internet of Things projects in production in Latin America. Could these percentages increase rapidly in the coming years, even with the pandemic?
Anyone who knows me knows how much I trust the potential of IoT projects and how this innovative ecosystem requires and drives the use of other disruptive technologies, such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Cloud Computing, leveraging national innovation, competitiveness, job creation and socioeconomic development.
In recent years, I have dedicated a lot of time and knowledge as a representative of ABES - Brazilian Association of Software Companies on the advisory board for the preparation of the National IoT Plan (IoT.br), an initiative of the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovations and Communications (MCTIC ), the Ministry of Economy (ME) and the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES). I am also participating in the deliberations in the sectorial chambers created by the federal government to help transform the actions of the IoT.br plan into reality in the prioritized verticals - Agribusiness, Smart Cities, Industry and Health - whose online activities resumed in 2021.
Throughout this period of discussions in these forums and outside, the tax aspect has always been cited as a problematic factor, burdening IoT projects. Many voices, including mine, called for a reduction in the tax burden and the creation of a tax regime more favorable to the expansion of the use of IoT in Brazil.
For this reason, we arrived in 2021, with advances to celebrate. To begin, it is important to remember that the National Telecommunications Agency (ANATEL) published Resolution 735/2020, through which IoT devices were classified as Value Added Services (SVA). Like SVA, the Internet of Things is subject to the Service Tax (ISS), in which the maximum rate provided for in the Federal Constitution is 5% - much lower than that charged for the transmission of common internet data such as, until then, the transmission of data. data in IoT was handled.
It is also necessary to highlight the sanction of PL 6549/19, authored by deputy Vitor Lippi (PSDB / SP), which became Law No. 14,108 / 2020 and entered into force on January 1, 2021. With the new legislation , the rates of the Telecommunications Inspection Fund (Fistel), the Contribution for the Development of the National Film Industry (Condecine) and the Contribution for the Promotion of Public Radio Broadcasting (CFRP) were zeroed for five years for IoT devices. This tax incentive should also help boost the Internet of Things in the national market.
Thus, the definitions we have been waiting for since the presentation of IoT.Br, at the end of 2017, offer us a tax regime and tax incentives that should unlock the potential of IoT in Brazil and we hope that at a faster pace in the prioritized verticals, generating jobs and encouraging the long-awaited economic recovery in the face of the negative impacts of the pandemic. I reaffirm, the horizon in IoT is promising and we are accelerating on this route.
* Werter Padilha is an Advisor to ABES (Brazilian Association of Software Companies) and CEO of Sawluz IT and Taggen Soluções IoT
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